Mom placed in shackles because of honor roll son’s three unexcused absences

You can’t make this stuff up. Julie Giles of Sylvania, GA, was arrested because her 10-year-old son, Sam, had missed too many days of school. How many is too many to the Screven County school district? Three.

Giles explained on her Facebook page that Sam was absent twelve times over the course of the school year. The school district allows six unexcused absences, and she had a doctors notes for three additional absences. It’s the last three absences that led Screven County to arrest Giles in what can only be described as massive governmental overreach.

Here’s the thing. Giles had a very good excuse for the three absences, an excuse that any parent of a school-aged child understands: Sam wasn’t sick enough to go to the doctor, thus didn’t have a doctors notes. Attention Screven County: not every sick kid needs to see the doctor. We parents are capable of deciding that.

What’s worse, when Giles learned of the arrest warrant and turned herself in, she was placed in ankle shackles. ANKLE SHACKLES. Because her kid didn’t have a doctors note for three absences. And despite his absences, Sam is an honor roll student.

This is shameful behavior on the part of Screven County, not to mention a gross overreach of authority. While truancy is a legitimate issue to be addressed by school districts, parental authority and common sense must be part of the larger solution.

Furthermore, Screven County seems to be requiring parents to take their sick — but not SICK sick — kids to the doctor and pay the copay in order to get a sick note. This is an unreasonable financial burden to place on parents.

Also, Screven County apparently would rather that parents send their sick kids to school and risk infecting their classmates. There are plenty of parents who send their sick kids to school every day, we don’t need the school districts to condone and encourage it. In fact, is it not in the school districts’ best interest to have sick kids stay at home, even if they cannot produce a doctors note? Or is an epidemic of kids missing school better than one staying home unexcused?

Government overreach is a very real thing, parents, and it may be coming to a school district near you.

More on this story here.

Image via Julie Miles’ Facebook page.